In his coining of the term technosphere, geoscientist Peter Haff attempts to describe the physical properties of a human-technological system that takes on a role equivalent to the biosphere or hydrosphere. In this conversation with media philosopher Erich Hörl, Haff discusses the finer points of this concept while they both attempt to locate ethical and philosophical questions that emerge from it.

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Erich Hörl

University of Lüneburg / Digital Culture Research Lab

Dr. Erich Hörl is professor of Media Culture at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media (ICAM) at the University of Lüneburg. He is also a senior researcher of the Digital Culture Research Lab (DCRL) Leuphana. His research interests include the development of a general ecology of media and techniques as well as the description and review of the process of cybernetization. He is the editor of The technological condition. Contributions to the description of the technical world (2011). His articles include, inter alia, "A Thousand Ecologies: The Process of Cyberneticization and General Ecology," in The Whole Earth. California and the Disappearance of the Outside, edited by Diedrich Diedrichsen and Anselm Franke (2013).

In his coining of the term technosphere, geoscientist Peter Haff attempts to describe the physical properties of a human-technological system that takes on a role equivalent to the biosphere or hydrosphere. In this conversation with media philosopher Erich Hörl, Haff discusses the finer points of this concept while they both attempt to locate ethical and philosophical questions that emerge from it.